A reporter for TIME Magazine sparked a Twitter war when he said that he "can't wait to write a defence of the drone strike that takes out" Australian-born Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Michael Grunwald deleted his tweet after a follower argued that it would only encourage Assange supporters.
Grunwald's employer distanced itself from the tweet, saying "Michael Grunwald posted an offensive tweet from his personal Twitter account that is in no way representative of TIME's views."
Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, as he fights attempts to extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault.
Last month he announced the candidates who will stand for his WikiLeaks Party at the federal election.TIME reporter can t wait to justify drone strike on Julian Assange - Yahoo!7